7 Months Already?

This post will be a random update on a variety of things since it's been a month since I posted - wow, time sure flies. We've had a lot going on!

Bailey had her first sleepover and her first swimming lessons. She did well at the sleepover with her cousin Lauren (as did Lauren) - they actually went to sleep, which was completely unexpected! As for the swimming lessons, Bailey looks terrified the whole time. After every lesson, she says she had fun but she doesn't need to come back the next week because, "they just teached me to swim." She thinks three lessons means she now knows how to swim. That's akin to her telling me she already knows how to swim because she swims every night in her bathtub.

Nolan has really found his voice, babbling and yelling "Na, na, na, na, na, na, na" and "Da, da, da, da, da, da, da!" It's so funny to watch him because you don't know if he's happy or unhappy...until he breaks out in his trademark grin. I just can't believe he's getting so big. He's also made the jump from just learning to sit on his own to getting up on his hands and knees and trying to crawl. He's gone a few steps (do you call them steps??) forward and several feet backward. He also wants to hold on to our hands and walk around the house. Uggh, I remember we did that with Bailey for months and we thought our backs weren't going to survive. And to think we have always said how calm he is!!! I may have to eat those words.

Finally, he's finally doing a little better with his baby food. He doesn't eat more than 3 or 4 bites at a sitting, but he's been through a variety of vegetables and I just gave him his first fruit.

Unfortunately, he gagged and shivered at the first taste of banana and refused to open his mouth for a second bite. Here's the face I got.

Oh, but have I written about how he LOVES sno-cones?? Bailey has a sno-cone maker, so that has become our typical after-dinner dessert. He goes CRAZY grabbing for our cups. So, Jason gave him a little taste and I now know what someone addicted to crack might act like. Only in this case, I'm talking about a tiny baby. So, ya know, pretty much the same thing.

Here are a few other pictures from a recent family get-together and then some random pictures from the last month.

Ring around the Nolan! (Bailey and her cousin Lauren)

He's kicking his legs furiously!

Nolan loves, loves, loves the water! But, he also loves, loves, loves the grass!
Ice cream with 2nd cousins from D.C. What's better than friends and sugar?

Fun with baby strollers....which turned into fighting about baby strollers!

Have you noticed that it's hard to get a picture of him lately without something shoved in his mouth? But, still no teeth!

My pretty, pretty girl!


And, on a sad note, our long-time pet Scout passed away recently. Jason and I picked out this little tiny Springer Spaniel puppy 8 years ago, and he's been a part of our family ever since. While some of you may know about his health challenges over the past year, I didn't expect this to happen. He has certainly not been on my priority list since having children, and the side effects of his medicine caused some irritating behavior, but he WAS a trusted companion and he will be sorely missed. Goodbye, sweet Scout.

The Dancing Queen (or Princess at the Very Least)!

I am going to take a momentary pause in the Nolan-centric posts to focus on little Bailey. As I mentioned at the end of the last post, Bailey danced in her first recital. I was so nervous, but she really surprised me...in a good way! While 3 and 4-year-olds aren't typically the most coordinated, I think she did as well as any of the little girls. As I've told a number of people, the funniest part of watching pre-school dances is their complete inability to nonchalantly find their place on the stage. From the moment I saw the top of Bailey's head emerge from the wing, I could tell she was completely preoccupied with finding her "star." Now, for some kids, this search took literally the whole dance....once they found their place, the dance was pretty much over. For others, the star quest led to some spats between dancers who each thought they were on the right star...it was just the same one and they quickly realized it was a first come, first served kind of deal.


They wouldn't let us take pictures during the actual dances, which was okay in the long run because I wouldn't have been able to get any good shots what with the streaming tears clouding my vision and all. What is with me these days? It's like I can't handle all of these new little life things that Bailey is going through...and it's just going to get worse (for me, not for her) as time goes by. But, I digress...


Jason got good video. Again, someday I'll learn how to post video here. The setup to the pictures is that the pre-school show was called, "Once Upon A Time..." and all of the classes were Disney Princesses. Now, I have to say that, when we learned our class was going to be Mulan, we were less than thrilled. Bailey hadn't even seen the movie. I tried to get her to watch it, but the minute Mulan cut off her hair and pretended to be a boy, Bailey was out. That kind of behavior is not at ALL princess-like for a 3-year-old. But, I think we ended up with the better deal. Our costume was so cute and very different from the other ones. While still cute, the Cinderellas and Sleeping Beauties kind of looked like the generic Halloween costumes you can buy at Wal-Mart.


Anyway, they entered the stage with their hands in a Chinese prayer pose in front of them, walking on their tiptoes to their place. Soooo cute. Here are the pictures. I realized at the end of the night that I didn't get a good picture of her with her shoes and tutu on...but she'd already messed up her hair and her makeup was all rubbed off. But, by golly, I have the picture!!! We'll go chronologically, however....here we go with the pictures I took when we were getting ready to leave for the recital.

Backstage after the recital....it was truly an operation to keep 100 pre-schoolers occupied and prepared for their next dance without their parents to assist them with shoe changes and whatnot.

She was so proud of the ribbon she got from her teacher at the end of the recital!

Cousin Anna and family came to see Bailey's big debut.

Not the best form but, hey, she's only 3!